


Exposure Therapy

by TtotheCofA



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 16:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18265118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TtotheCofA/pseuds/TtotheCofA
Summary: The Mystery Skulls just don't have good luck with caves...





	Exposure Therapy

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic transferred over from Tumblr, circa 2015. Enjoy!

They hadn’t gone into a cave since the incident.  
  
Arthur paled and began to shake when even passing by one, and Vivi didn’t dare ask Lewis how he felt about it. She didn’t have much of a mental filter, but never let it be said that she was stupid; a death so violent was not something one could just shake off. There was no way Lewis had walked away from that without some sort of fear, and he and Arthur had made so much progress since that first night in the mansion…Vivi didn’t want to risk it by asking tactless questions with obvious answers.  
  
But they were going to a cave tonight, and she was worried.

 

It wasn’t technically a cave - it was a mine. A coal mine, specifically - first dug some forty years ago and abandoned when the mineral veins ran dry. The town had been built almost directly outside the main shaft entrance, and thus, when eerie wailing and sobbing had started to echo up from the bowels of the earth, there had been no place to hide.  
  
Tourism had ground to a halt almost immediately, and several other paranormal groups had already been called in to investigate the mine. Their findings had either been inconclusive or nonexistent, and the sounds had continued without source or reason. Finally, the case had reached the inbox of the Mystery Skulls. Due to the location of the haunting, they almost turned it down….  
  
But the pay promised, along with the sheer number of pleading e-mails all coming from the same town, persuaded them to at least take a look.  
  
They had met with the town council just a few hours prior, and had been given the key to the gate that enclosed the mine entrance, as well as a map of the tunnels and caverns. Of course, most of the shafts were off-limits to their investigation due to safety concerns (lack of breathable oxygen, unstable tunnel supports, toxic fumes, etc.), but they still had the main shaft and cavern to search. As they stood outside the mine entrance, just inside the main gates, Vivi looked back at her boys…  
  
….and hesitated.  
  
Arthur’s flashlight was creaking under his hands, and the knuckles of his flesh hand were white. Even under the pale glow of the dusk streetlights, Vivi could tell that he was shaking, and his eyes were focused single-mindedly on the mine entrance, as if he could see nothing else. Lewis was no better; a soft neon glow flicked through his hair every now and then, and faint little orbs of spirit energy were whizzing about his head. Thank god they had no witnesses out here, because his human disguise looked ready to fall at any moment.  
  
“We can still turn back.” Vivi spoke up quietly, prompting both of her boys to look at her in surprise. “Tell the council we had critical equipment failure, or something…” She turned to look back at them over her shoulder. “We don’t have to go down there.”  
  
“Vivi, you were there for all the interviews.” Lewis spoke up. “There is something down there, and by all accounts, it sounds non-hostile. If there’s some spirit trapped down there…” He paused. Surprisingly, it was Arthur who finished the sentence.  
  
“….are we really gonna leave them just because we’re too scared?” The blond added. He was still twisting his flashlight in his hands, but his voice was steadier than Vivi had heard in a while. “All the other groups that came here didn’t find anything, but…” He smiled weakly and glanced at Lewis. “I-I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a ghost investigator on their side.” Lewis cracked a smile of his own, and Vivi felt something well up in her chest.  
  
She reached out and took Lewis’ left hand, and then pried Arthur’s right off of his flashlight, and held it tight.  
  
“Alright, boys…” The bluenette took a deep breath. “Let’s get to work.”  
  
…………..  
  
The glow of the streetlights didn’t travel far beyond the entrance of the mine, and within ten minutes, they had to click on the flashlights. Vivi led the way, with Mystery by her side and Arthur clinging to her scarf behind her. Lewis followed at the back of the group, allowing his hair to glow and act as his flashlight. After what felt like eternity, the tunnel leveled out, and the walls opened up.  
  
The rough stone floor gave way to soft, rotting wood, and the gang found themselves standing at the top of a series of ramps and stairs leading down to the bottom of the main chamber. Neither their flashlights nor Lewis’ fiery glow could fully illuminate the entire cavern, and beyond the rotted wooden railing of the aged scaffolding, all they could see were flickering shadows and the dark, looming forms of rusty machinery. Vivi heard Arthur gulp audibly from somewhere behind her, and took a slow, deep breath.  
  
“Well, let’s get down to the main floor…” Even at a whisper, her voice echoed like a shout, and Lewis twitched a little as the sound bound back to them. Vivi paused before speaking again, as softly as her voice could manage. “We can set up the cameras on tripods, and do some EVP sessions.” She turned and started down the first ramp, her gaze still focused on the distant shadows of machinery. “Then we’ll see if Lewis ca-”  
  
“VIVI STOP!” Arthur’s panicked shout was harsh and deafening, and Vivi gagged as she was dragged back by a sudden yank to her scarf. She saw a blur of dull orange as Arthur’s momentum sent him reeling passed her, his shoes slipping tractionlessly against the dusty wood. She heard Lewis cry out, and suddenly, Arthur was gone; he had vanished into the gaping hole in the ramp that Vivi - with her gaze turned away - hadn’t seen.  
  
The air was suddenly filled with a horrible crashing sound - snapping timbers, creaking metal, shrieks of pain - and a large cloud of dust enveloped the scaffolding. Mystery began to bark loudly, and Lewis blindly grabbed for both the dog and Vivi, tucking them under his arms and shedding his human appearance as he leapt into the air, fearing the ramp would collapse. The scaffolding jerked and sagged, but did not collapse fully….still, it was a good three minutes before the chaos stopped, and the dust began to settle.  
  
Vivi immediately tried to cry out for Arthur, but the dust in her lungs only dragged her into a coughing fit. The woman buried her face in her scarf, hearing Mystery sneeze beside her, and kicked at Lewis’ legs. The ghost got the message (‘get us down’), and began to lower himself to the cavern floor, below the cloud of dust, and where the rock was still solid and firm. As soon as solid ground was beneath her feet, Vivi pulled free of Lewis and ran back towards the wreckage of the scaffolding.  
  
“Arthur!” She shouted, desperately shoving her flashlight beam into every opening she could find. “Arthur, can you hear me?! Say something!” She heard a whine, but it was only Mystery, running up to join her and paw through the rubble. Lewis came next, still bone-faced and flaming, and phasing through the wood and rock to search in places where the living two could not. For several long minutes, they heard nothing….not a whimper, not a cough, not a whine….and Vivi’s heart clenched-  
  
“I’ve got him!” Lewis shouted from somewhere under the mess. “He’s alive - he’s okay!” Vivi’s sigh of relief was so heavy it almost hurt. “I’m going to try and phase us out…” His voice trailed off, and a minute later, Lewis reappeared, stepping through the broken posts and planks with Arthur in his arms. Both had a strange, translucent look about them, but as soon as Lewis was free of the debris, both became solid again, and the ghost knelt down to sit the blond on the ground.  
  
Aside from a few nasty cuts on his arms and legs and a few scrapes on his face, Arthur was alright. Vivi nearly suffocated him in her hug, but after a few moments of panicked flailing, Arthur managed to push her back.  
  
“Vi, I’m okay…” He gasped. “I-it’s okay, calm down-”  
  
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Vivi snapped, grabbing Arthur’s flesh arm and tearing off her scarf. Wrapping the wound this way brought back crushing memories of another cave and a graver injury, but the bluenette stomped them down almost immediately. “What were you thinking?! You could have been killed!”  
  
“I had to stop you!” Arthur argued, wincing as the woman tightened her makeshift bandage. “You didn’t see the gap, and you were about to walk right into it! It’s not like I meant to slip!” Mystery sat down and placed a paw in Vivi’s lap, and the girl bit back the shout building on the tip of her tongue. She felt Lewis’ strong hand touch her shoulder, and she took a slow, deep breath.  
  
“I’m just-….” Her throat strangled the words, and she had to stop. “….I can’t lose one of my boys again.” Vivi reached out and pulled Arthur into a tight hug, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that she still could. She felt Arthur gingerly wrap his own arms around her, and felt Mystery’s comforting weight lean against her side. With Lewis’ warm presence at her back, Vivi squeezed her eyes shut.  
  
They wouldn’t be taking on any cave cases, for a while…

 


End file.
